Lawmakers sidestep gay marriage stand

Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday again avoided taking a formal stand on a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, recessing a constitutional convention instead of taking up the thorny issue.

If lawmakers do not vote on the measure before the next Legislature takes office, the measure will not appear on the November 2008 ballot. A vote appeared unlikely because they recessed until Jan. 2, the last day this Legislature is in session.

Lawmakers voted 196-0 to reject a proposed amendment that would bar same-sex marriages and invalidate the thousands that already have been conducted, but decided 109-87 to recess without voting on another measure that would stop such marriages only after the amendment was enacted.

Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which opposes same-sex marriages, said the Legislature was “thumbing its nose” at the constitution.

Reno, Nev.

12 murder charges filed in hotel fire

Prosecutors filed 12 counts of first-degree murder Thursday against a woman they say started a deadly hotel blaze by setting a mattress on fire after a dispute with a fellow tenant.

Valerie Moore, 47, a convicted murderer who was paroled a year ago, was arrested the morning after the Oct. 31 fire but had been held on a parole violation while authorities searched for bodies – a process that took until Wednesday because the gutted building was so hazardous.

The fire at the 84-year-old, $150-a-week Mizpah Hotel was Reno’s deadliest, killing 12 people and injuring 31.

The criminal complaint also includes one count of first-degree arson. Moore, who worked at a nearby casino, will make her initial appearance Monday.

As many as 83 tenants were in the Mizpah Hotel when the fire broke out, police said. Many were rescued by firefighters on ladders, and several jumped to the street below.

Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Discovery moved to launch pad

Space shuttle Discovery was moved to the launch pad Thursday to await a launch that could be as early as Dec. 7 – an effort to avoid potential New Year’s Eve computer glitches.

The worry is that shuttle computers aren’t designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. NASA has never had a shuttle in space Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.

“We’ve just never had the computers up and going when we’ve transitioned from one year to another,” said Discovery astronaut Joan Higginbotham. “We’re not really sure how they’re going to operate.”

Starting Dec. 7, launch opportunities would be available as late as Dec. 17 or 18. With a 12-day mission, that would mean the shuttle is back on Earth before New Year’s Eve.

However, NASA was quick to say that even if the shuttle crew finds itself still in space on Jan. 1, procedures could be devised to make a transition if necessary.